dossier sur le tourisme et le développement durable

The economic aspects of tourism
the evolution of the market. There is also the risk that globalisation will promote the leading
players in the market and disadvantage the weaker ones, as the former have easier access to
the new mechanisms that have been set up. Nevertheless, some developing destinations have
managed to fit efficiently into these new rules of the game (Tunisia, Cyprus, etc.).
The Mediterranean tourism economy groups together a commercial economy that is organised
and becoming concentrated (controlled by tour operators) and a more informal economy, even
an illegal one, in which self-organised holidays, non-commercial accommodation and small
family businesses dominate. Globalisation concerns mainly the former. The Accor group for
instance makes a considerable part of its turnover from business trips with hotels situated in
large cities. It is less involved in leisure trips. The wide-ranging characteristics of the latter help it
to avoid globalisation. Thanks to its flexibility it would seem easy for this sector to use the new
technologies and direct distribution, as has been proved recently, but there is also a strong risk
of marginalising the small enterprises that would be neglected by the new distribution methods
that are being implemented. Proof of this can be found in France where there has been a crisis
for family hotels both in city centres and in rural areas for the last twenty years. Yet this type of
SME is important for tourism because it offers variety (accommodation with personality) and
flexibility that larger organisations cannot afford.
With the prospect of the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone area and the
continuing of negotiations for services in the framework of the World Trade Organisation, this
movement will inevitably go ahead. It is therefore essential to invent some form of control of
tourism in this context and to allow the existing players to profit from it, while at the same time
limiting the risks of being too dependent.
The necessary but excessive part of international players
The big international tourist operators play an essential part in the development of destinations,
but it remains to be seen if this development remains sustainable.
Developing tourism in a destination requires investment, new skills, knowledge of the demand,
and so on; so many factors that are not necessarily available for emerging destinations and in
regions where tourism is inexistent. Historically, foreign players initiated the development of the
Côte d’Azur and made it famous (travel guides and English travel organisers like Thomas Cook,
Swiss hotel-keepers, etc.). Recourse to external players would seem to be necessary initially
even if it means temporarily accepting an unfavourable share of the revenue. This poses the
question of the possibility for these destinations to progressively develop their capacities in
order to take over the local tourist development, to acquire the means to manage it and thus to
obtain better profits.
In a context of open economies it is also logical that all the skills and know-how are not
necessarily available on the territory or that more competitive external players win the market
and get involved. The example of Ouarzazate in Morocco demonstrates that the penetration of
some international tour operators in this destination helped to bring charter flight tourists- that
also benefited others involved in tourism- and introduced more professionalism. However,
Mediterranean tourism does seem to be excessively dependent on tour operators and on air
transport: 62% of the cost of a package trip from Great Britain is made up of the air transport,
the travel agency’s work and the tour operator’s contribution (generally carried out by people
from the northern countries) (Figure 15).
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